Journey of the 7 C's: Reykjavik, Iceland

We arrived in Reykjavik at 7:30 am. We had night flight and the kids slept for about 2 hours each, Justin and I had no sleep. We left our bags at the bus terminal and walked to a little restaurant, Café Loki, to eat breakfast. The kids had delicious pancakes, which looked more like crepes, and Justin and I had a bagel sandwich. After breakfast we walked across the street and visited Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church. It was completed in 1986. We found out that it took 47 years to complete, is the 6^th tallest building in Iceland, and the organ has 5206 pipes, the tallest is 15m. The kids loved listening to the organist play and we were all amazed by its beautiful sound. After the church we walked to the “veiw point” (correct spelling). It is located along the coast and has a very panoramic view across the bay. We continued our walk to the opera house that has a unique façade. Each “panel” is a 3 dimensional portion of a cube. We then continued our walk around the city. One thing I noticed was that there are not many trees in Iceland. Most of them are only in the city were they have been planted for landscaped and aesthetic reasons. The landscape is interesting with carins dotting it to denote farms and homes that have been previously destroyed by volcanic eruptions. Later in the afternoon we visited the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal hot spring. We all gave ourselves facials with the white mud and green algae. Apparently it can make you look 20 years younger. Danielle said that it means she wasn’t born yet. I am still waiting for the effects to take place. Ahh, I hope it works. Needless to say, we were all exhausted. We headed back to the apartment and the bus driver took pity on us since all of the kids fell asleep and dropped us off a block away from our place. Everyone went to sleep and slept 14 hours. People in Iceland are so kind and polite. We found that people were very willing to assist. And they also like to share information about their country. At the lagoons we all learned about how the island was created and the volcanic activity that produces all of the geothermal energy. It has definitely been an exciting and interesting place to visit. Now we are on our way to Paris.